A few cigarette-smoking
officers were grouped in her bows. Apparently, they were more
interested in the remains of the _Andromeda_ than in the natural
fortress overhead. Clustered round the hatch were some twenty
soldiers, also smoking.
One of the officers pointed to the ledge; he was excited and emphatic.
Philip could not imagine that they had detected him, but he feared lest
Iris, in her agitation, might have moved. In that clear, calm air, not
even the growing dusk would hide the flutter of a skirt or the altered
position of a white face. A man in charge of the wheel replied to the
officer with a laugh. The first speaker turned, glanced at the
Brothers reef, behind which the _Andromeda's_ boat had vanished that
morning, and nodded dubiously. The man at the wheel growled an order,
and the engine started again. Though Hozier knew not what was said,
the significance of this pantomime was not lost on him. The local
pilot was afraid of these treacherous waters in the dark, but next day
Frade de Francez (which is the islanders' name for the Grand-pere Rock)
would surely be explored if a landing could be made. At a guess, the
silent watcher took it that the steersman had declined to make a
circuit of the rock until the light was good.
Away bustled the launch, but Hozier did not move until there was no
risk of his figure being silhouetted against the sky.
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